


Connections

by Redamber79



Series: The Commander & The Altus [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bull gives Cullen the basics, Dom Drop, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, Light Bondage, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Game(s), Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redamber79/pseuds/Redamber79
Summary: Dorian and Inquisitor Adaar's party have returned from the Deep Roads and Cullen has a surprise in store for him.
Relationships: Dorian Pavus/Cullen Rutherford
Series: The Commander & The Altus [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1010328
Kudos: 51





	Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Nickelkeep for beta-ing for me!

Cullen swept Dorian into his arms the moment he dismounted, kissing him for all he was worth. As Dorian melted against him, he mused that was quite a bit. It had been four months since Cullen's injury and recovery and Dorian had just returned from the Deep Roads with Adaar, Bull, and Cassandra. He remained shaken by what they'd learned and he leaned into the kiss, hoping to forget his questions for a little while. At least until he had to report their magical findings to Dagna.

Cullen gave him another sweet, tender kiss and they broke apart, simply holding each other. Cullen rested his forehead against Dorian's, his hands on his biceps as they simply breathed each other in.

"Hello, sweetheart," Cullen finally whispered and Dorian had to smile. 

"Miss me, Amatus?" Dorian murmured, his hands clasped behind Cullen's neck, smiling mischievously up at his lover.

"Let me get you alone," Cullen growled softly, "and I'll show you how much."

Interest flared low in Dorian's gut and he leaned in for another kiss. "Well, when I'm no longer smelling of horse and worse things, I'll come find you. But for now, I need the hottest bath I can manage and about a week's worth of sleep. I must look a mess, " he muttered, running a hand through his hair, which was nearly to his chin.

"I won't say you don't need the bath, love, but the hair…" Cullen's gaze darkened and Dorian felt his heart give a quick  _ thump-thump _ of anticipation.

Cullen slowly slid his fingers into Dorian's hair, scratching lightly over his scalp and tugging on the longer locks gently. Dorian whimpered, leaning into him and eyeing the busy stables. "Walk me to my chambers?"

Cullen kissed him gently and pulled back with a smile, trailing his hands down Dorian's arms until he could link their fingers. "It would be my pleasure."

Dorian slung his saddlebags over his shoulder and nodded to the discretely hovering groom, asking her to be sure to give his horse a good rub down and a warm mash. He sighed, craning his neck until it popped. "If I never see another cave again… we're sleeping in my room tonight. All the luxuries, the blankets, the down pillows…"

"Next you'll be wanting silk sheets and someone to feed you grapes," Cullen teased, taking the saddlebags and tossing them over his own shoulder before wrapping an arm around Dorian's waist. Then walked side by side across the lower bailey to the stairs leading to the battlements, Dorian resting his head on Cullen's shoulder for a moment as he eyed the stairs.

"I'll trade the silk sheets for someone to carry me up the steps," he sighed.

"Not the grapes though?" Cullen teased. "Come on, dearest, let's get you to your quarters." Cullen led him up the stairs and through his office, then across the walkway to the rotunda. 

Months after he'd disappeared, Dorian still found it strange to find it empty, Solas simply… gone, without a word. They trudged their way up to the library, Dorian pausing to drop off a sack of creature oddities for Helisma to study. Dorian had kept a barrier active around the sack with the help of a rune from Dagna, but he had a feeling it was starting to weaken; that or that smell was him, and that simply didn't bear thinking.

Cullen led him across the interior balcony and out to the upper walkway, and Dorian sighed in relief as they approached his room. Cullen opened the door for him, moving aside so Dorian could step through, and Dorian found his room lit by half a dozen perfumed candles from Orlais, a steaming bath waiting for him. He sagged back and as he knew he would be, Cullen was there to catch him. His lover’s strong arms held him tightly as he rolled his head back against Cullen’s shoulder to look up at him. Cullen laid a gentle kiss on his temple and nudged him into his quarters, locking the door behind them. 

Setting his saddlebags down at the foot of the bed, Cullen reached for Dorian and slowly began unbuckling his light armour, stripping him of it and his defenses piece by piece until he stood naked, vulnerable before his lover.

“You’re too thin, sweetheart,” Cullen murmured, taking Dorian in his arms and walking him slowly backwards. “Get in the bath, love, food will be here soon. The kitchen was alerted when Adaar’s party was sighted. I’ll get rid of the armour and your clothes. Anything that can be salvaged?”

“Did you get reports?” Dorian asked, then shook his head. “Nevermind. We faced darkspawn. Burn the lot. Unless Dagna has perfected her cleansing runes for a more domestic use? I’d rather not risk spreading the taint. We were lucky enough that we made it through unscathed.”

Cullen shuddered and Dorian leaned up to press their lips together gently. “Maker, Dorian,” Cullen breathed against his cheek as he embraced him fiercely, “you terrify me sometimes. The things you walk into and always saunter back out again as though it were nothing. I’ve seen what the Blight does, and you’re right. It’s not worth the risk.”

Dorian shivered then, the reminder of the creatures they’d faced, the twisted forms made all the more horrific when you knew they were once human, or something like. “Stay?” he murmured against Cullen’s throat, seeking comfort in his lover’s arms. 

“Stay?” Cullen repeated softly, his voice low and full of amusement. “Once the food is here I’ll join you.”

A knock sounded at the door and Cullen swirled his coat from his own shoulders to Dorian’s for a modicum of modesty, then turned to open the door. A serving man stood there with a platter, which Cullen took and set on the bed, closing the door and locking it again. Lifting the lid and holding it to block Dorian’s line of sight, Cullen looked over the tray and smiled. He glanced over his shoulder at Dorian and made a shooing motion with on hand. 

“Go on, Dorian, get in. I’ll bring you something to eat,” Cullen coaxed and Dorian slid the furred coat from his shoulders, shivering at the look in his lover’s eyes. They both had far too many memories of Dorian wearing it for it to be casual, but Dorian truly wasn’t intending to tease. At least, not yet. Still, it was nice to be appreciated and he made a slow show of gathering the coat and bending to drape it over the bed. There was a low growl from Cullen and Dorian bit back a chuckle.    
  
_ Yes, it was very nice to be appreciated, _ he mused with a small smile. Dorian slid into the bath with a hiss, the water almost too hot, if such a thing could be said for a pampered Tevinter in the mountains between Orlais and Ferelden. He lay back against the edge, the water barely to his bottom ribs, and looked about. Surely there was more water to be had to top it up. A familiar clinking sounded and Dorian looked across his chamber to see Cullen removing his armour piece by piece. Dorian could still see the spot where a dent had been hammered out after Cullen had been struck by a behemoth, and he shivered despite the heat of the bath, knowing how close he’d come to losing his lover forever. When he was down to leathers and his linen undershirt, Cullen reached for the platter again and picked up a small bunch of grapes.

“They aren’t peeled,” he teased, a little smile pulling at his scarred lip. “I hope that’s alright.”

A sudden warmth filled Dorian’s chest and he gave a small shrug. “I suppose they’ll have to do.”

Cullen set the grapes aside and poured a cup of wine, filling it to the brim. He took a large swallow, his throat working, then brought it to Dorian. He handed it over, their fingers brushing, then sat on a stool placed behind the tub as he rolled up his sleeves. Picking up a sponge, he poured soap over it and began washing Dorian's back, each pass like a gentle caress.

Dorian sighed, his limbs going lax, and he carefully set the cup of wine down before he spilled it. Relaxing back into the tub, he closed his eyes, luxuriating in each pass of the sponge over his skin, the tired, aching chill that had seemingly settled into his very bones finally easing. Cullen murmured quietly for him to tilt his head back and he complied in a haze, slouching a little and giving a low moan as Cullen used a dipper to pour steaming water over his head. He let his mind float, groaning softly as Cullen's strong fingers began to massage soap through his hair. 

Dorian could feel himself relaxing further and he let Cullen's tender ministrations lull him further, until he was nearly drowsing. Cullen chuckled softly as he rinsed Dorian's hair, caressing his shoulders softly, and coaxed him to sit forward in the bath. There was the quiet susurration of clothing hitting the floor, then Cullen slipped into the bath behind him, pulling him back into his arms and cradling his exhausted body. Dorian let himself slump back against Cullen's broad frame, the familiar touch of his skin soothing a feeling of homesickness that Dorian had scarcely recognized until now.

Cullen picked up the sponge again, stroking it gently across his chest and Dorian sighed happily, his mind drifting. Cullen murmured quiet instructions which Dorian followed without thinking, raising and lowering his arms, turning to let Cullen scrub at his legs, then leaning back to let him rinse him one last time. Cullen coaxed him to his feet and wrapped a towel around his shoulders, prodding him until he stepped out of the bath. Dorian yawned mightily, shivering as his skin cooled and Cullen tugged back the blankets on his bed. 

"In you go, love," Cullen persuaded, his voice low and beguiling. Dorian let the towel fall and stumbled to the bed, collapsing onto the soft mattress and Cullen's coat. He wrapped himself in the familiar fur and cloth, the scent of his lover surrounding him, on the pillow and blankets as well as the coat.

"You've been sleeping here?" he asked, already slurring his words. "Amatus, you romantic thing."

Sleep rolled over him in an inexorable wave.

*****

Cullen watched, a small, content smile pulling at his lips as Dorian dropped into sleep like a stone sinking in a well. Covering the food and setting it aside on the chest of drawers, he quickly dressed in his leather trews and a linen shirt and gathered Dorian’s clothes. He scooped up the armour and wrinkled his nose. Dorian was right, safest to burn it, but with magical properties built into all the armour Dagna crafted, he decided to take it to her for disposal. He bent and kissed Dorian's forehead, causing the mage to stir slightly in his sleep. His lips quirked in a tiny smile, then he sighed and burrowed deeper under the blankets until only the top of his head was visible.

Cullen quickly made his way through the keep, shivering slightly in the cool evening air. He thought of his coat, currently wrapped around his lover, and smiled. Descending to the undercroft, he quickly explained to Dagna that the leathers were unsalvageable, due to potential darkspawn taint. There was a gleam in her eye as she took the leathers, and Cullen made a mental note to have Adaar reinforce the command to dispose of the gear.

He stopped by the laundry to drop off Dorian's clothes, then made his way through the main hall and to the gardens. Selecting a white rose, he picked it carefully, then using his belt knife, trimmed the thorns. He headed back to Dorian’s room, musing that his lover had been right about where Cullen had slept these past few months. It had taken perhaps a week for his loneliness to overwhelm him to the point he couldn’t sleep in his own chambers any longer, and only found solace in Dorian’s chamber, surrounded by the fading perfume his lover wore.

He crossed the great hall again and took the stairs up to the balcony, then around to the outer walkway. Slipping back into Dorian's room, Cullen quickly locked the door and snuffed the candles. Stripping quickly, he crawled into bed with his sleeping lover. Wrapping his arms around Dorian, he squirmed closer until he was cradling the mage with his body, pressed against his back in one long line. Laying a gentle kiss to the nape of his neck, he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

For the first time in months, Cullen slept without nightmares.

*****

Dorian woke slowly, lethargy dragging at his limbs. The quiet of the keep around them told him it was late, or perhaps early, but certainly not the time to be awake. After months on the road, he certainly had a hair-trigger reflex for waking, but this was different. He'd swum to the surface of a dream gradually, blinking his eyes blearily in the dark of his room. He didn't want to be awake, there was no danger, no calls of nature, then what?

Arms encircled him a moment later, Cullen squirming closer until he was once again pressed against Dorian's back, his strong body cupping Dorian's gently, and Dorian smiled in the dark. There had been something missing for a moment, but surrounded by Cullen's strength, he was quickly dropping off again. 

"Amatus…" he murmured around a yawn, and Cullen hushed him softly.

"It's half-past three, go back to sleep, sweetheart."

"Ugh, never tell me the time in the middle of the night, I don't want to know," he complained and felt Cullen's low chuckle rumbling through his chest, stirring things low in his body that he hadn't the energy to pursue. Not yet anyway. Cullen’s large hands pulled him closer, caressing his hair soothingly, and Dorian squirmed around and nudged Cullen onto his back. Pillowing his head on his lover’s chest, Dorian sighed in contentment and idly traced circles over his skin with gentle fingers.

“I’ll try to remember that,” Cullen teased, searching out his lips in the dark and kissing him sweetly.

A steady warmth grew in Dorian’s chest as their tongues danced languidly, something soothing and tranquil about the touch rather than arousing. Dorian melted against his lover, sinking into the delicious, seductive feeling of home. Between one kiss and the next, he fell asleep again.

*****

Cullen felt Dorian drift off into sleep and chuckled, stroking a hand through Dorian’s hair gently.

When next he woke, it was to candlelight and a dizzying arousal, his spine going liquid hot down to his gut, even as his stomach clenched and his thighs tightened.  _ “Dorian!”  _ he cried out, his hands fisting in the sheets and his body trembling as his lover speared his tongue into him again. 

“That’s it, Amatus, come for me, darling.” Dorian tugged lightly on his sac and it was over, great spurts painting his stomach white. He shuddered and quaked, his toes curling as his cock emptied itself, then he slumped back onto the pillows, languid and dazed. Still, he reached a hand for Dorian and tugged him up on the bed until he was cradled in his arms. Dorian gave a low, sultry laugh and Cullen turned to kiss him deeply. Cullen moaned against his lips, feeling his lover’s cock pressing hard and eager against his hip, and fumbling about, he found his shirt from the night before and swiped it across his stomach, cleaning the worst of the mess.

“Maker’s balls, Dorian, that is one way to wake up,” he laughed, pulling him across his body to settle between his legs. Dorian raised one aristocratic eyebrow, then Cullen was wrapping his legs around his waist and cocking his hips. “Make love to me, sweetheart, I need to feel you!” he demanded. Dorian groaned, fumbling for the drawer next to the bed and finding oil. Slicking his fingers, he reached for Cullen’s entrance, and Cullen grabbed his wrist. “Just your cock, Dorian. Fuck, make me feel it!”

Dorian groaned, slicking his cock and wiping his fingers over Cullen’s rim. “Amatus, you’ll be the death of me, I swear it,” he muttered, pressing slowly into Cullen’s body.

A sheen of sweat broke out over Cullen’s body and he cried out as Dorian carefully breached his body. Cullen whimpered as his lover pulled back, the head of his cock catching and tugging on his rim, then thrust forward, driving into him hard and fast.

“Fasta vass, Cullen, I won’t last,” Dorian swore, his hair shadowing his face like a curtain as he drove into his body and Cullen trembled, his body sensitive to the edge of pain, but loving every moment. Dorian was with him, his lover was in his arms, safe again until the next time and Cullen relished in the feel of Dorian driving into him deeply. He cried out as Dorian nailed the sweet spot within him, their breath catching as Dorian froze, then cried out as Cullen raked his nails down his lover’s sides. “Cullen!” he gasped, thrusting into him again and again, his body trembling and shaking as he emptied himself.

Collapsing over Cullen, Dorian kissed his way gently over his throat and jaw to his lips.

“Miss me, Dorian?” Cullen teased and Dorian gave a low chuckle of satisfaction.

“I thought that was evident.” He stood on wobbling legs and moved to the bath, pouring water over a cloth and returning to the bed to clean them up. Cullen gasped at the still cool water, his skin pebbling as he jerked away. 

“You’re horrid,” he groused. Turning to the table by the bed and picking up the rose he’d picked the evening before. Teasing it lightly along Dorian’s cheek, he murmured softly, “And I love you despite it.”

“Horrid, am I?” Dorian grinned, then assumed a mock-offended expression. “And what do you propose to do about it?”

Cullen’s breath caught and he reached for Dorian’s hand. “Marry me.”

Dorian’s eyes widened. “I…  _ what?” _

Cullen pulled him close and kissed him desperately. “Marry me, Dorian Pavus. Marry me, say you’ll be my husband.”

“And who would marry us in the Chantry?” Dorian gasped, his eyes dark and troubled. 

“You’ve been gone, of course. Divine Victoria, formerly one Nightingale, formerly Sister Leliana,” Cullen explained, pulling Dorian into his arms. “We wouldn’t even be the precedent. She sanctioned the wedding of a couple in Ferelden, an armourer and a shopkeeper, as well as Hawke and his lover, Fenris, in Kirkwall.”

Dorian kissed him softly, toying with the rose, taking it and trailing it over Cullen’s chest. “I could never return to Tevinter,” he said softly, and Cullen tensed.

“You’re right, beloved, I don’t...I would never ask that of you.” Cullen dropped his head back onto the pillow, staring at the ceiling as he thought of the ring he had stashed among his things in his loft.

“Cullen,” Dorian murmured, turning his face with a gentle hand on one cheek. “You love me so much?”

“Words could never describe, Dorian,” Cullen breathed, turning to kiss Dorian’s palm fervently, his heart pounding. “You are everything to me. You are--”

“Home,” Dorian interrupted in a soft whisper, and kissed him. “Yes. Maker, Cullen, yes!”

*****

Dorian didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t to see his lover smile joyously and leap from the bed. “Wait here!” Cullen instructed, then tugged on his leathers and his boots, and ran from the room still shirtless. Considering the state his shirt was in, it was perhaps as well, but if this didn’t set tongues wagging, nothing would.

Dorian lit more candles with a wave of his hand, sitting up in bed and propping the pillows behind him. He fetched the tray from the night before and picked over the grapes, munching contentedly as he waited for Cullen to return. No more than three minutes later, there was the sound of feet pounding along the walkway outside, and his door was flung open as Cullen burst into the room. 

“Dorian Pavus,” Cullen gasped, falling to his knees. “Will you do me the honour of being my husband?” He held a gold ring in one hand, a gorgeous, opalescent stone glinting in the sunlight streaming in through the open door.

Dorian found himself on his knees on his bed, reaching for Cullen. “Yes!” He kissed him fiercely, over and over, murmuring between each one. “Amatus, yes!”

Cullen kicked the door shut and bore Dorian down on the bed, his hands trembling as he slid the ring onto Dorian’s finger. Dorian glanced at it in amusement, then kissed Cullen again, softly this time.

“How did you get the fit perfect?” he asked and Cullen laughed, soft and low, even as he kicked off his boots to land with a  _ thwump _ on the floor.

“You leave your rings in my chambers all the time, sweetheart.” He bent and kissed Dorian again, linking their fingers and kissing over each knuckle. He turned Dorian’s hand and kissed the palm gently, casting his glance up at Dorian through gold-kissed lashes, and Dorian's breath caught. His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest, and he pulled Cullen close, burrowing into his arms. Cullen gave a low chuckle and kissed the top of his head softly. "Thank you, sweetheart. I know how you detest cuddling."

Dorian glared at Cullen for a moment, a look somewhat defeated by being directed at his throat, then conceded with a disdainful shrug. "The things I do for you, amatus."

"As well as the things you do  _ to _ me…" Cullen reminded him, a low note in his voice that shivered its way down Dorian's spine.

"My darling Commander," Dorian purred softly as he laid gentle kisses up Cullen's throat, "are you trying to seduce me?"

Cullen's head tilted back with a sigh and he swallowed. "Is… is it working?  _ Maker…" _

“Leave Him out of this, credit where it’s due and all that,” Dorian teased, sucking a mark on Cullen’s throat. 

Cullen suddenly pinned him to the bed, setting his heart pounding for a different reason entirely. Dorian felt his cock responding, swelling as his arousal grew. He squirmed in his lover's hands, and Cullen simply tightened his grip slightly, pinning him thoroughly with his body. The rough press of Cullen's laces against him only made him more aware of the hard cock behind them, and Dorian moaned softly and twitched his hips deliberately.

Cullen growled and rutted against him, fisting his hand in Dorian's hair and tugging his head back. He bit and nibbled down Dorian's throat and across his chest, tugging at the rings piercing his nipples and making him whine and squirm. Dorian shuddered, writhing under his lover's attention, then Cullen wrapped his hands around the post of the headboard.

"Don't let go, sweetheart," he warned in a low rumble. 

Dorian felt a bolt of liquid heat fire through his body and decided to push a little. "Oh? Or what, amatus?" he asked, though this was a game they'd played before.

"I'll have to tie you up," Cullen threatened mildly. Dorian waited all of two seconds before tangling his fingers in Cullen's locks and tugging, pulling a growl from him. "Don't test me, sweetheart, I'll find rope if I have to," Cullen warned him and Dorian's breath caught. 

That was new. Dorian meekly wrapped his hands back around the headboard and batted his eyelashes. "I suppose I'd best behave then." Cullen returned to his exploration of Dorian's nipple rings, but one had snaked lower and teased at his cock, sliding over the slit and bringing his now glistening thumb to his lips. Licking it clean with a rapturous expression, Cullen repeated the motion. This time he slid the drops of precome across Dorian's nipple, then laved it with his tongue, drawing a hiss from Dorian as he bucked. 

And the thought was consuming him, he could easily let go, but what would it be like if he couldn't, if he had to submit completely? He whimpered, then called out, "Cullen, amatus,  _ wait!" _

Cullen froze, then crawl up his body in a heartbeat, caressing his face and shushing him. "Sweetheart, Dorian, are you alright? Forgive me, I--"

"Tie me up, amatus!" Dorian interrupted, desperately. Cullen's eyes widened in surprise, darkening with arousal, his breath catching. Dorian pressed his advantage. "I want you to restrain me and make me writhe, my darling Commander; use your hands and your tongue and your cock to drive me crazy. Take me!"

"Dorian, are you… are you certain?" Cullen growled, his voice full of dark promise and Dorian squirmed just to hear it. 

"Do I need to beg, amatus, would that please you?" Dorian teased, wiggling his wrists before his lover. In the next moment he was pinned, his wrists held in one strong hand as the other undid laces and then Cullen was kicking his leathers loose. He dropped to slide their cocks together and Dorian cried out, straining for room to move but held immobile by his lover's strength. 

"I am going to make you beg, sweetheart," Cullen growled. He bent and nipped at Dorian's throat even as his shoulders bunched, his body moving in an intoxicating have over Dorian's. 

"Best get started then, Cullen," Dorian suggested, his head thrown back to give his lover more room. "Were you planning on ravaging me or not?" he dared, but his voice cracked as Cullen scraped his stubble over his skin.

Sucking at Dorian's throat in a way that he knew meant he'd been marked, Cullen made him whimper, squirming. He drew back with a look of dark satisfaction then reached for the chest of drawers.

"You've that gold, silk scarf, I think it ought to do nicely." Cullen fished it out of the drawer, trailing the silk over Dorian's skin and sending shivers across his chest and down his arms. 

Dorian responded by crossing his wrists and resting them above his head, even as he teased one foot up the back of Cullen's calf and up to his thigh. Cullen's head drooped, his body quivering, and Dorian gave a low, satisfied chuckle. "What are you waiting for, amatus?"

There was a flurry of silk and Dorian found himself bound, then his arms were stretched further over his head as Cullen tied him to the headboard's rungs. "Not too tight, sweetheart?" Cullen asked and Dorian wiggled his fingers, even twisting his wrists a little to show he had room to move. 

"Just fine, darling, now I do believe you had intentions of a nefarious sort upon my body."

"Nefarious?" Cullen grinned, nibbling his way down to Dorian's nipple, tonguing at the ring and tugging it lightly with his teeth. Dorian squirmed, gasping softly, trying to reach for Cullen, only to be arrested by the silk encircling his wrists.

"Wicked? Dastardly?" he offered, then cried out as Cullen's hand tweaked at his other nipple ring. "Cullen, yes!"

"Villainous, perhaps? These things sound like complaints, my love. Shall I stop? Or shall I keep--" he dropped a kiss to Dorian's breastbone and slid lower, "--going?" 

"Stop at your peril, amatus," Dorian threatened, but his voice ended on a gasp as Cullen nipped at his hip. Cullen chuckled softly, then grabbed Dorian's leg and tossed it over his shoulder. Dorian pulled at the silk again and felt it tighten on his wrists, so laid back, trying to relax. Even so, his body shuddered as Cullen squirmed lower and he flicked his tongue over the head of Dorian's cock. A growing heat was building slowly in Dorian's core, a sweet pleasure tightening with every pass of Cullen's lips and tongue. Then Cullen moved lower and flicked his tongue over his rim and Dorian moaned, unable to keep from squirming. He felt the silk tighten again and restrict his movements further, and couldn't help the gasp of pleasure at the sensation, the bite of the fabric against his wrists a counterpoint to Cullen's tongue piercing him over and over. 

Dorian lost track of time, sinking into a soft, foggy space where he cried out Cullen's name and Cullen responded by taking him to the edge of too much again and again until finally, he found himself writhing under his lover as he thrust into him. Cullen pounded into him with an intensity bordering on savagery, his hands tight on Dorian's hips as he drove into him again and again. Dorian cried out again, his cock weeping. He tugged at the bindings again, desperate to get his hands on his lover, uncomprehending at his inability to move. He wrapped his legs around Cullen's hips and pulled him right against him, the angle driving Cullen's cock over the bundle of nerves in him that made his mind buzz, his body on the verge of exploding. 

Cullen tensed above him, thrusting hard and fast and stroking his cock in time to his thrusts, grunting Dorian's name until he seized, stiffening and giving a great cry as he flooded Dorian's body with heat. As he thrust his way through the last of his orgasm, he twisted his palm over the head of Dorian's cock and Dorian screamed his name before collapsing back on the bed in a daze.

Several minutes later, Dorian stirred, his mind a fog, his body still tingling. In fact… "Amatus," he rasped, his voice nearly gone from the force of his cries, "I don't mean to interrupt the afterglow, but I can't seem to feel my hands." He tried twisting his wrists and winced at the pain of the silk biting into him. "Cullen? I'm afraid this may be rather urgent. Would you untie me please?"

Cullen's head lifted sleepily, his eyes glazed, then his gaze sharpened abruptly. "Maker, Dorian, you're bleeding!"

Dorian chuckled roughly. "Hardly the first time, my darling Commander," he teased, then winced again as Cullen tugged at the knots binding his wrists, to no effect. Cullen swore, leaning closer, then Dorian gasped as his lover reached for a knife.

"Cullen Rutherford, that is handwoven, hand-painted Antivan silk, don't you  _ dare!" _ he ordered, his heart in his throat as Cullen delicately inserted the blade between his wrists and drew it taut against the silk.

"Could you get blood out of this?" Cullen asked bluntly, and Dorian pouted.

"Well, no, but--" There was a sigh as the silk parted, and Dorian's arms were freed. "You realize that scarf cost more than every horse in the stable?!"

"You can take it out of my hide later, sweetheart, for now you need a poultice or tonic for these," he murmured, his face full of dismay.

"Saddlebags, darling. Still stocked." Dorian held his hands carefully still as Cullen wrapped them in the scraps of silk to try to prevent worse bleeding. Luckily the cuts seemed shallow across the backs of his wrists and the vulnerable insides had been pressed together.

Cullen was quiet as he dabbed ointment over Dorian's wounds, his eyes dark and sombre. The moment he finished wrapping Dorian's wrists and stowed the bandages, Dorian pulled him into his arms, his body aching, but more concerned for his lover. Cullen shuddered against him and though Dorian didn't know exactly what was wrong, he could guess.

"I'm alright, amatus. Nothing permanent, and look, I didn't set anything on fire this time either."

"Dorian, don't make light of this, I  _ hurt _ you," Cullen exclaimed, leaning back and tracing a gentle touch over the bandages. "We certainly can't do that again."

"Well, not with silk, clearly. First of all, I've only so many scarves, amatus, but I think the silk slips too easily. I agree, darling, we won't try it again, not until we know what do use safely. But…" Dorian's voice grew tentative despite himself, and he raised Cullen's chin to meet his eyes. "We do have the rest of our lives, after all?"

"Maker, Dorian, yes." Cullen bent and kissed him tenderly. "Always, sweetheart. Always."

*****

Cullen left Dorian napping, the bandages a slap in the face. He got dressed quickly, pulling on his boots and a clean shirt from the drawer, as he'd started keeping several spares in Dorian's chambers nearly six months ago. He strapped on his armour, the routine familiar and somehow soothing, and he bent to kiss Dorian softly. His lover-- _ fiancé _ \--opened his eyes for a moment and smiled at him, then drifted back to sleep.

Almost in a panic, Cullen left the room, walking through the halls of Skyhold blindly until he found himself in his office. He tried to bury himself in paperwork but the image of Dorian's bleeding wrists kept returning until he was practically hyperventilating. He was pacing his office, an itch under his skin nearly as bad as the last of the lyrium cravings, when it came boiling to a head. He let out a vicious snarl and punched his bookcase over and over until he felt the skin of his knuckles split.

"Yo, Cullen! You need to be abused, come spar with me. Leave off the furniture." Bull's deep voice broke through the mist of anger and self-loathing and he turned to the Qunari desperately.

"I hurt him. I hurt Dorian!" he exclaimed, then staggered to his desk and collapsed into his chair, his head in his hands.

He heard the door shut and figured Bull had left to check on Dorian, but a moment later there was a clearing of a throat and he looked up to see Bull leaning against the door.

"He's a mage, so I'm assuming it wasn't in any way he didn't want you to, or he'd have set your ass hair on fire."

"That doesn't make it right!" Cullen protested and Bull snorted.

"If it was was what he needed? Then it was right. But if you didn't mean to hurt him, if it got out of control or went too far, that's something to look at. If you plan on trying again, have a word either of you can use to stop everything, no questions asked."

Cullen felt a blush burning its way up his cheeks and opened his mouth to deny any possibility of a repeat. What came out what something else entirely.

"Silk is bad, what should we use instead?" he blurted, feeling his face flame.

Bull looked him over for a minute and shrugged. "You did hurt him then. Silk binds too tightly, and if it manages to cut and get wet, you'll never get the knot loose. But you know that now, don't you? There are some merchants I can hook you up with," and here Bull's lips quirked in some private joke, "to make sure you've got quality rope. I can teach you basic knots and you'd be safe to try it again.

Bull walked over and loomed over the desk. "Now, I was going to report to you about our findings in the deep roads, but you won't retain it. I'll tell the boss you're unwell. Go be with him. You need it, Cullen. Trust me, ben-hassrath training. If not for you, he may need you too after something… intense, too."

Cullen nodded, still fighting to control his blush when Bull walked out of the tower, heading for wherever Adaar might be that time of day. His stomach churned and he supposed the argument for being unwell might actually be accurate.

He made his way back to Dorian's chamber, his feet taking him there automatically as he stewed, his mind spinning. He rested his head against the door for a moment, a feeling of shame nearly swamping him. He took a steadying breath and opened the door, stepping into Dorian's chamber. Dorian was sleeping peacefully and Cullen felt such a wave of longing that he knew Bull was right, this was where he needed to be. He stripped his armour as easily as he'd donned it less than an hour earlier and tossed his leathers and his shirt over the chair in the corner. Kicking his boots underneath, he poured himself a cup of wine and sipped it slowly, delaying the inevitable.

"Amatus?" Dorian's voice was drowsy, soft and slurred with sleep. "I thought you'd left me." And with those words, everything faded away. Setting the half full cup on the tray and recovering the food, Cullen stepped to the bed and slipped under the covers. Wrapping his arms around Dorian, allowing himself to sink into his lover's warmth, Cullen smiled softly.

"Never happen," he sighed. "I always come home to you after all."


End file.
